European stocks were little changed

European stocks were little changed after a report showed manufacturing output unexpectedly contracted in the U.K. in January. U.S. index futures and Asian shares declined.

U.K. manufacturing output slipped 1.5 percent in January after increasing a revised 1.5 percent in December, the Office for National Statistics said today in London. Economists had predicted the measure would be unchanged. Total industrial production in the European Union’s third-largest economy declined 1.2 percent in January after gaining 1.1 percent in the previous month, separate figures showed. Economists had called for a 0.1 percent increase.

European Union leaders will meet at a summit in Brussels on March 14-15 to discuss the terms of a bailout for Cyprus. These include the nation’s debt sustainability and whether to impose losses on depositors.

St. James’s Place lost 1.6 percent to 528 pence after Lloyds sold 102 million shares in the company, leaving the bank with a 37 percent stake. Britain’s biggest mortgage lender said it will make a gain of 400 million pounds ($593 million) from the sale. Lloyds climbed 2.2 percent to 51.1 pence.

Pirelli retreated 2.4 percent to 8.71 euros after Europe’s third-largest tiremaker forecast earnings before interest and taxes of 810 million euros ($1.1 billion) to 850 million euros. That compared with the average analyst estimate of 875 million euros in a survey.

Antofagasta jumped 4.7 percent to 1,146 pence after the copper producer controlled by Chile’s Luksic family proposed a dividend of 98.5 cents a share, from 44 cents a year earlier. The average analyst estimate had called for a dividend of 58 cents.

FTSE 100 6,502.2 -1.43 -0.02%

CAC 40 3,837.3 +1.03 +0.03%

DAX 7,976.8 -7.49 -0.09%